Dally Had A Girlfriend
by TheAlmostMalfoy
Summary: After he died, the cast finds out that Dally had a girlfriend. She's tuff, and Pony becomes friends with her. She really misses Dally, though. This is how she copes after coming to live with them.
1. Chapter 1

Why does it have to happen like this? Everything stays the same, and nothing can change the way they are. Like the seasons; summer follows spring and fall follows summer, with winter right after that. If we could change what we wanted to when we wanted, though, we never would have met.

Caution: Might make you cry.

Please listen to 'You'll be in my heart' by Phil Collins while reading. Also, if the song finishes before you're done reading, please listen to 'Everytime we touch Slow Version' by Cascada. Thanks!

PONYBOY'S POV

"I want Dally!" she cried, breaking into sobs again. Two-Bit put his hand on her shoulder, looking at Darry, who stiffened. No one knew Dally had a…a girlfriend. I was surprised, although I shouldn't have been. Dallas Winston was known for lying.

"There, there," Two-Bit said, although having obvious difficulty on calming her down.

"Bring…bring me my diary…please, Pony?" Carolyn sniffed.

"Yeah. Yeah, sure." I went to get the book. She had brought it to our house when Darry called her and invited her after finding her name and number crumpled up in Dally's jacket pocket after he died. I also wondered why she wanted me to get it.

I'm a klutz. I dropped it, and it fell open. I tried not to read it, but I saw Dally's name when I picked it up. I know I'm a snoop, but I just had to read what she was saying about him.

I want to go kill myself. If there's an end to the world, I want to be the first one to jump off. It's not fair that he had to die! I need to escape reality. This isn't really happening. I'm just asleep, and when I wake up, Dally will be next to me , or something. This just isn't happening! It can't be! I need to wake up. I need to wake up! I NEED TO WAKE UP!

I shut the book real quick, hoping I hadn't taken such a long time that they'd guess that I had read some of it. I gave the book to Carolyn, who was still crying.

"Th…thanks, Pony," she said, blowing her nose on her sleeve. "Pencil, too?"

"Sure." I had one in my pocket, so I handed that one to her.

She sat back in the chair she was sitting in and, finding a page, began to write. I needed a smoke. I grabbed my pack of cigarettes out of my back pocket, took one out and popped it in my mouth.

"Hey, Two-Bit, gotta lighter on ya?" He tossed me his and I lit up, walking to the door. I stood outside, smokin' away, until someone tapped my shoulder. I jumped. It was Soda.

"Hey, Pony. You ok?" he asked, jamming his hands in his pockets.

I took a long drag on my cigarette before answering, "Yeah, why?"

"Cause' you're paler than usual, that's why," he said, punching my arm playfully.

I tossed the butt of my cigarette off of the stairs and took a seat on one of them. Soda came to sit next to me and put his arm around my shoulders. I shivered.

"You ok?" he asked again, then hitting himself on his forehead, realizing he just asked that.

"Yeah. I guess," I answered, making a perfect smoke ring with the excess in my mouth.


	2. Chapter 2

"Ouch!" I exclaimed in spite of myself, tripping over one of Carolyn's bags. Out spilled little VHS's that each had different labels on them. I started putting them back into the bag, but my curiosity got the better of me. Picking up a random one, I walked into the living room, suddenly glad that the gang had taken Carolyn to the park for some fresh air and that I had chosen not to go. I clicked on the T.V. and slipped the movie into the box. Sitting back in Darry's chair, I relaxed a bit and watched. The movie started, but, to my surprise, it wasn't a movie at all. It was someone walking with the camera in his or her hands following Dally and having a conversation with him. His hands were in the pockets of his jeans and a cigarette in his mouth. I tensed up; I hadn't seen Dally alive and walking in…awhile. Listening to the conversation (about knives vs. switchblades in a fight), realized with a start that the cameraperson was Carolyn, and that she and Dally were on a date. After talking for a while, they started kicking a rock to each other, kind of like soccer. Watching her feet just below her, Carolyn didn't realize when Dally stuck out his foot ahead of her and tripped her. Dropping the camera and grabbing onto Dallas' shirt in a "If I'm going down, you're coming down with me," kind of way, they fell to the ground, laughing. Luckily, they were on grass, and so the camera fell down upright, still filming, and neither of them got hurt. On the ground, Carolyn was on top of Dally, and they were both still chuckling. Dally had a wide grin on his face; one we never saw on him when he was alive, and a gleam in his eyes, and I knew immediately that falling was part of his plan. And then, just before getting up, dusting herself off and picking up the camera again, Carolyn did something that shocked me, although it really shouldn't have. She kissed Dally. I know that, being boyfriend and girlfriend and all, they must've kissed a heck of a lot of times, but, well, it was the first kiss I'd ever seen. Breaking me away from my thoughts was Soda and 2 Bit's laughter coming from the front of the house. Jumping up, I quickly took the cassette out of the box and ran it back to Carolyn's bag where it had come from and threw it and the others that I hadn't put away back in. Then I sprinted to my and Soda's room to grab a book and had just enough time to run into the living room, sit down, and stick my nose in it just as the gang strolled into the house, led by Darry and Steve.

"Hey, guys!" I called. "How's the weather outside?"

Coming into the living room, 2 Bit gave me a noogie and slumped down beside me on the couch.

"Pretty darn good, Pony. Ya shoulda came with us!"

"Yeah, Pony!" Soda yelled to me, throwing off his shoes and bounced into the room. Steve stuck his head out of the fridge long enough to say, "You ain't got no chocolate milk left!" and stuck it right back in to look for something else to drink.

"On it!" Darry yelled, running out the door again and doing a no-hands cartwheel over the steps.

Coming into the living room, Steve had a bottle of beer cracked open and was drinking it like…like, I don't know what. Finally, Carolyn strolled in, wearing a grin I hadn't seen on her since the video, but no one was to know about that.

"Have a good time?" I asked her, but, instead, Soda answered, "Definitely!" with his usual crazy grin slapped on his face. I set my book down on the table, closing it, 'cause I wasn't really reading it.

"Thanks, guys. I really needed some excitement!" Carolyn said softly, but you could hear the difference in her voice from its usual sadness to now. She sounded almost like she had in the video, but something was still missing. Next to me, 2 Bit lit a cigarette, popped it in his mouth and offered me one.

"Sure," I said, taking the one he held out to me. Using his lighter and lighting it, I stuck it in my mouth. "Carolyn?"

"No thanks, I've already smoked a whole pack today!" She laughed, and it was a beautiful sound to hear, especially from her.

Trying to blow a smoke ring, I shrugged, 'cause it seemed like the thing to do.

"What did ya do while we were gone, Pony?" Soda asked, punching my shoulder playfully.

I tensed up, then said coolly, "This and that," hoping that he didn't ask any more questions and that he didn't notice my edginess. I couldn't think of anything to say as a lie, and thankfully, I didn't have to, 'cause, just then, Darry promenaded in, carrying a few grocery bags, no doubt filled with chocolate milk, chocolate cake mix, and the other ingredients for chocolate cake.

"Hey, Superdope!" Steve called, putting down his beer bottle on the table and going to help Darry with the bags, even though he clearly didn't need it. Before taking one of the bags out of Darry's arms, Steve whispered something in his ear. Setting one of the bags down, Darry smacked Steve across the head. Grinning, Steve picked up the bag Darry had put down and brought it to the kitchen where he started sorting through it.

"Chocolate me!" Soda called, and Steve threw a carton of the milky stuff at him, which he caught like a football.


	3. Chapter 3

"Ponyboy," Carolyn whispered when Darry and Soda were asleep. "Come onto the front porch steps with me. I want to talk to you."

I got up, suddenly nervous, and followed her out the front door.

Carolyn on a step and patted beside her for me to come sit down. "I was looking through my bag the other day, you know, the one I keep by the couch?"

My throat closed up as I sat next to her, but she kept going. "I found a few things out of order, and I have a few movies in there. One of them had some film wound in as if it had been fast-forwarded. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?" She smiled sweetly, but she had an edge to her smile identical to Dally's when he knew something was up.

I knew that she suspected me, and looking her in the eye, I caved. "Alright, when you and the boys were out at the park, I tripped over your bag. One of the labels caught my eye and I watched some of it." Words poured out of me like water from a tap. I guess the guilt was too much for me. "When y'all came back, I took the movie out of the box and put it back in your bag. I guess I forgot to rewind it. Sorry for not telling you, Carolyn." I looked down at my shoes, hiding my expression.

"Which one was it? I only noticed that it was ahead, didn't even look at what I'd labelled it." I heard pain in her voice. I shuddered with sudden cold.

"You and him walking around the park, kicking the rock and him trippin' you. And you fallin' on him." I looked up at her. Her expression matched her tone. She looked mighty sad.

"Dally…" She drew a shaky breath and began again. "Dally wasn't like anyone I'd ever knew. He was smart, in his own way, and took life as it came. I'm bettin' it's mighty hard to be that tuff."

Just then, looking deep into her eyes, I thought about the Dallas Winston I knew compared to who Carolyn knew. Maybe there was good in Dally, and, shoot, we'd never connected enough with him to really see it. Carolyn spent a good amount of time with him, and she saw a whole other side to him. But, still thinking, I couldn't see love in the rock-hard eyes of Dallas.

"Well," a sudden deep voice boomed from the door behind us, making us both jump. I turned to see who it was. Standing behind us was Soda, and I was happy it was him instead of Darry, who would've sent me to bed without a moment's hesitation. "What are you two chattin' about in the middle of the night?"

I looked back at Carolyn, who shook her head slightly.

"Nuthin, just school stuff," I lied. Carolyn's eyes said a quick _Thank you_.

"Boooooorrrrrrrrrrring!" Soda chanted, stretching his arms and squeezing himself between Carolyn and me.

"Why aren't y'all asleep, Soda?" I asked.

"Can't," he replied with a grin, as if that explained everything in the world.

Carolyn's body gave a violent shudder and her hand reached to her back pocket, but when she caught me looking, she snapped out of her daze.

Soda yawned; apparently completely unaware of what just happened.

"Anyone want some chocolate cake?"

I was about to bring up the fact that it was late at night, but I was suddenly craving some, so I said, "Sure."

"Ditto," Carolyn said as Soda jumped up and skipped back into the house to grab us some.

"Thanks for not telling him about, you know," Carolyn whispered. She was right; I did know. I was glad I hadn't told Soda, but it was still strange having something kept away from him; I'd never hidden anything from him before.


	4. Chapter 4

A week later

"Hey, anyone see Carolyn?" I asked, looking around.

Everyone shook their heads no, but Darry said he'd seen her leave early that morning with all her stuff. "She said she'd be back after lunch," he added.

"Kay, thanks." I went to my room and sat on my bed. Carolyn never left without at least one of us with her. Eh, I thought, she'll be ok.

The next day

"Hey, guys, wake up! This is important!" Steve yelled, running into our house real early the next morning.

"Shaddap!" Darry yelled.

"Keep ya shirt on, Imma comin'," said Soda, getting out of bed and walking to the front door. I heard him gasp, then Darry yawn and the sound of more feet. I guessed I'd better get up and see what all the commotion was. Soda was sitting down, breathing mighty quick, Steve had a shocked look on his face, and Darry had is back facing me and was hunched over something in his hands. "I don't believe it," he said slowly.

"What, what?" I asked.

"Carolyn's wanted." That's all Darry said.

"What?" I asked, and Darry turned around and faced me. He showed me what he was holding. It was a newspaper. He handed it to me, and I read the article.

Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Wanted:

17-18 yrs

Long, brown hair. Mid-back length

5'7 to 5'9

125-140 lbs

Was wearing black jeans and army green t-shirt

Last seen in alley near Bob's Warehouse

Shot two men in alley next door to warehouse

If seen, please contact Crime Stoppers or your local police station.

"I heard gunshots out my window as I was working the late shift last night and looked out the store window and saw this girl with a gun and two guys lying on the ground bleeding," said Romilda Martin, a lady who works at the warehouse. "The girl was crying, but after the guys were dead, she checked their pockets and took what was in them into her own. I just stared, and I guess she felt my gaze cause she turned around and gave me a cruel smile, then took off running. "

"She couldn't handle it," Soda moaned. "She really _is_ just like Dallas."

"No." My tone surprised even me. "Dallas was cold, hard and cruel. Carolyn was just scared and sad. Not like Dallas."

"Ponyboy, you alright?" Darry asked me.

"Yeah, I guess," I mumbled. Almost everyone I care about is either in trouble or dies. "She'd better have something on 'er."

"She does. Like it says, she had a gun." Steve grinned grimly.

"Good thing they ain't got no pictures," Two-Bit said, lighting up and taking a puff. "Could be anyone, and Carolyn could hide."

"Yeah, so a bunch of people are gonna be accused of stuff she did. I wonder if we'll ever see her again." Steve sat down on the couch.

"We will. Carolyn's a smart girl," Darry said, but there was a definite touch uncertainty in his voice.


	5. Chapter 5

I just realized something. I miss having Carolyn around. There. I said it. The feeling's been biting me in the butt since she left, but I couldn't figure out what it was. Now I get it.

Dally helped Carolyn and Carolyn helped Dally. Why did he hate help so much? It made me wonder, and as I was wondering, I dozed off.

While I was sleeping, I had this dream about Carolyn and Dally. They were just talking. It seemed to have some sort of significance, and they both seemed to have a glow around their heads. They were both smiling, and not those half-smiles that I had gotten used to. They both looked at me for an instant, and nodded.

"Thank you for taking care of her when I could not," Dally said in a voice, kind of like his own and different. Softer, maybe even. "We are together again. Thank you."

They both grinned, and I woke up.

When I awoke, I was in my bed. Soda was sitting on the edge with a newspaper laid out beside him, and he was staring at me.

"You alright?" I asked, sitting up.

"Carolyn's been found," he replied softly.

"And?" I asked.

"The police found her hiding in an alleyway, staring into space. She told them to get it over with when they walked up to her, and no one had any idea what to do, so the newspaper said. She pulled a gun out of her pocket and held it to the head of the nearest officer and repeated herself, saying that he would be dead if they wouldn't kill her first."

Soda took a deep breath and let it out in a loud sigh. "She's dead, Pony."

I didn't say anything for a long time. I didn't even cry. I somehow knew it. The dream


End file.
